Long before they were headliners, Los Lonely Boys were show-stealers. It's that trio thing — think Cream, The Police, Jimi Hendrix. When the musicians are hot, there's nothing like a three-piece: no distractions, no fluff and nothing to hide behind. Los Lonely Boys are three brothers who can really play; add in their distinctive sibling vocal harmonies, a balmy late-July night at the Greek (Pollstar's Best Small Outdoor Venue in 2004), a sold-out crowd, a good front-of-house mix and the sum of the equation is a show worth going to.

At soundcheck, however, a great show wasn't a given. The Greek Theater, situated in a posh neighborhood near Griffith Park, has ironclad SPL restrictions. At 4 p.m., trouble was brewing at FOH, where, with the band onstage and the P.A. turned off, measurements were already more than the 98dB A-weighted limit. [Note: A-weighting reflects the response of the human ear and its sensitivity to certain frequencies. — Eds.]

It was only FOH mixer Jon Schimke's third night behind the board for the band, but Schimke, a laid-back vet, was taking things in stride. So was Brandon Operchuck, the tech in charge of SPL monitoring for Schubert Systems Group, provider of the JBL VerTec line array system deployed for the Greek's summer season.

Schimke, who's also handling production management for the one-truck/two-bus tour, works for Sound Image, Los Lonely Boys' sound provider, as does system tech Rob McCrillis. Rounding out the crew are monitor mixer Bobby Filarowicz, the band's longtime guitar tech Ish Flores and drum tech Chip Carter.

“This is one of the easier places we're playing in,” Schimke comments. “Some of the others have limits like 95, 96 — even 92 [dB]. So this is a bonus. Plus, once the show starts, they'll be singing harder than they are now. That helps avoid any feedback issues.”

Operchuck, who mans the Lake Contour and Mesa systems containing the brickwall limiting that kicks in if it gets too loud, points out that the crowd will absorb a lot of volume, and he and Schimke go back to listening to the P.A. The VerTec system comprises, per side, 11 VT 4889 full-size and four VT4888 mid-size flown boxes, six double-18 VT4880 stacked cabinets and four flown VT4887s used as delay cabinets. It's powered by Crown I-Tech Series amplifiers controlled by IQ networking software. In addition, a custom Schubert interface to the IQ runs on Ethernet cables to all of the amps, enabling control of their EQ and compression from FOH. The system, which took approximately five days for initial tuning at the beginning of the season, is periodically retuned throughout the summer by Schubert owner Dirk Schubert. His tuning is done in the I-Techs via the IQ system, with the Lakes used as the “daily interface” for guest engineers to fine-tune.

Traveling with the band are Yamaha PM5D-RH house and monitor consoles provided by Sound Image. Although both Filarowicz and Schimke prefer analog desks, they agree that for a band with frequently changing opening acts (at the Greek, the opener was the 10-piece Ozomatli), a digital board was definitely the way to go.

“We've been using digital desks quite a bit,” offers Filarowicz, who's manned the group's monitors for more than a year. “We were out with Santana for six weeks with a [Yamaha] 1D, then we took a 5D on the Brotherhood tour where we had large opening acts: Ozomatli and Calexico. I like the way it works. It sounds good, and it's the only thing that made sense for speedy changeovers and enough flexibility. We took it again on this tour, where Ozo will do six dates with us, then Big Head Todd, Shelby Lynne, Robert Randolph Band and then Ozo comes back.”

The tour is toting Sound Image monitors — an all-wedge system powered by QSC amps — with no in-ears to be found. Drummer Ringo Garza gets three mixes: a top, a sub and one for his Buttshaker “thumper.” Both lead guitarist Henry Garza and 6-string bassist brother JoJo use three wedges each — double 12-inches in the middle and a single 15-inch on each side — so Filarowicz can “separate vocals and instruments without running out of power. Henry's main vocal is in both mixes,” Filarowicz explains, “but JoJo and Ringo's vocals are just in the center mix, and mostly the instruments are in the 15s. That gives me more separation and more volume.”

On the clean, no-frills black stage, the bass rig stands out. Fronted with silver mesh, it's, well, massive: four custom-loaded SWR Megagoliath cabinets driven by three SWR amplifiers, fed by an SWR 750 Series amp head used as a preamp and packed with eight Tone Tubby 10-inch hempcore speakers (made by San Francisco's A Brown Sound).

Guitarist Garza also uses Tone Tubbys. His setup includes two cabinets with four of the 12-inchers, two Fender Twin amps and two JCM 2000 Dial Superleads, along with a small Fender reverb “tank.”

Filarowicz keeps it simple, filling just 24 inputs on his PM5D. Almost all mics are Audio-Technica. Bass takes AT4050 condensers; guitars also use a pair of 4050s, with an A-T 25 on one of the Fenders for a “little more low-end presence,” and a 4040 side-address condenser on the other for “just slightly different colors from the mics for different EQ realms,” Filarowicz comments.

Vocal mics are wireless AE5400 cardioid condensers, which use a studio-style 4050 element in a handheld body. “The brothers have been harmonizing since they were kids, and the three-part vocals are amazing,” says Filarowicz. “The 5400s do a great job of conveying everything that they're trying to do vocally.”

A-T AE3000s cover snare top and the two floor toms, with an AT35 on the rack tom. Hi-hat, ride cymbal and snare under get A-T AE5100s; overheads use 4050s. Two mics cover the bass drum: an A-T 2500 dual-element and Shure Beta 52, “strictly for his thumper,” notes Filarowicz, “which is picky about how it reacts.”

Filarowicz listens over the fray on two large floor wedges set behind his seat. “My monitors are the same double-12 wedges that Henry and JoJo have,” he says. “I use a pair so I have [electrical] load reference. I can hear what the amp is actually putting out when I cue up each of their mixes.

“We're not quiet,” he continues with a laugh. “Depending on the venue and the circumstances, getting my mixes to keep up with the band can be a challenge. They have a chemistry they believe they'd lose with in-ears. But Ringo, for example, wants his mix to sound like it does on studio headphones — on wedges. So I'm definitely mixing, especially riding the vocal harmonies, all night.”

By the time Ozomatli had shaken out the P.A., the seats were packed. It was Los Lonely Boys' showtime and Schimke had it together. “It's a great band,” he observes, “so it's pretty easy. They've been playing together so long; they do a lot of it up onstage themselves. I just have to watch for guitar solos and who's singing.”

Asked if it was difficult to work with a different P.A. every night, Schimke answers, “It doesn't matter to me. I tune it up the same every day by listening to the same CDs, trying to make it as similar as I can. The guys from the Greek spent a lot of time tuning the system today; when I turned on the CD, it sounded great.

“I have a [Klark-Teknik DN 3600] EQ in-line that I rely on, but, basically, I will always try how they've set the system up first. Sometimes it's great. A lot of guys will just flatten it out right away when they come in, but I think you might as well at least listen to what's set up already. If it's not right, you can always flatten it out and go from there.”

Schimke's other must-have is a Klark-Teknik RTA DN6000 spectrum analyzer, which he uses to check on “any frequencies that are getting out of hand. If we were carrying, I'd also bring gates and compressors,” he notes, “but, in this case, I'm using the onboard processing. I'm gating the kick drum mics and the rack and two floor toms, and I'm compressing the bass and the vocals. They sing pretty hard so the compressors come in handy.”

What accounted for the dB difference between soundcheck and show — besides, of course, bodies in seats? “Ish, the guitar tech, brought the levels on the rigs down a little bit,” confides Schimke. “He's been with the band a long time, and after we had a discussion, he talked to them. He's really the one who made it happen tonight! And, of course, the bodies helped.”

“They did the right thing for the show,” adds Operchuck. “Bands have to understand that they need to work within the parameters of our system. It can be tough sometimes for an artist to understand that their guitar amp can affect 6,000 people. But a moderate level onstage will give the audience the best-quality show. In this case, they worked with us and ended with a great show. The audience really got their money's worth.”